Romo: ‘I’m a completely different player’

IRVING – Many national analysts are picking the Eagles to win Saturday night because they believe Cowboys QB Tony Romo will crumble under the pressure – from the Eagles blitz and from the weight of the playoffs.

Guess they forgot how good he’s been this season, especially the final two months.

Over the last six games, Romo completed 67.7 percent of his passes for 1,859 yards with 11 touchdowns and only two interceptions.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen him more confident, and I’ve never seen us more confident in him,” Cowboys tight end Jason Witten said.

Said Dallas owner Jerry Jones, “I’ve never felt better about him.”

And there’s plenty of proof Romo can handle the Eagles’ vaunted blitz package.

Against the blitz this season, Romo has completed 131-of-225 passes for 1,877 yards with seven TDs and three interceptions, according to Stats Inc, per the Dallas Morning News. Last season, he was 96-of-164 against the blitz for 1,335 yards with six TDs and six picks.

“We’ve played some teams that have blitzed against us and have had trouble,” Cowboys coach Wade Phillips said. “I don’t have any control over what the Eagles do, but if you blitz Romo, then Miles Austin could get free for a big play. We handle the blitz pretty well, and I don’t know the Eagles will go into the game saying, ‘Hey, we want to blitz them all the time.’ They can do what they want to do, but I think Tony’s pretty good against the blitz.”

Bottom line: Romo’s a much better QB than he was in playoff losses to the Seahawks in 2006 and the Giants in 2007.

“I’m a completely different player and this is a completely different team,” Romo said. “Those past games have absolutely no bearing on anything going forward.”